Nairobi — Justice Aaron Ringera has failed as the chief graft buster and his outrage against Parliament is deceptive, a parliamentary committee has said.

The Parliamentary Committee on the Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs defended MPs against Ringera's accusations and turned the spotlight on the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) director.

"Ringera has singularly failed in the fight against corruption," said the committee, in a statement read by its chairman and Kabete MP, Mr Paul Muite.

Muite said a new KACC and the powers it wants could be anchored in a new constitution, but it would deliver only if there is "a change of guard at the commission".

"Is it not the same Ringera who is widely quoted in the media as having told Mr John Githongo that if he (Githongo) was waiting for him to arrest certain ministers named in the Anglo Leasing scam then he (Githongo) was going to wait for a very long time?" posed Muite.

Committee members, Mr Kenneth Marende (Emuhaya MP) and Mr Zadock Syong'oh (Gwasi) said Ringera was using Parliament as a "scapegoat to hide his failure".

"Parliament and the committee have no wish to be part of a charade and stage-managed show of deception that there is any political will to fight corruption," they said.

The committee said the political goodwill to fight corruption did not exist in Government and the claims being made against MPs was meant to deceive the public.

Internal Security minister, Mr John Minister, is on record, as having said the Cabinet had resolved not pursue corruption cases committed earlier in the past.

Justice minister, Ms Martha Karua, had also advocated that resources should not be wasted to dig into corruption claims committed during the previous regimes.

But after the vote she claimed Muite had influenced the MPs for personal interests.

Karua also said if the Bill were passed it would render KACC's work useless.

Muite said the many anti-corruption agencies were being used as milk cows.

"The amount of money used by the agencies, including the Musyimi commission, is huge. They could just as well be other avenues for corruption," he said.

Muite said when the Anti-Corruption and Economic Act 2003 was passed by Parliament in 2003, the MPs did not listen to the voice of reason from the likes of Mr Mutula Kilonzo, who pointed out that some of its sections contravened the Constitution.

The committee said claims by Ringera that he had been rendered powerless were false.

"Let Ringera stop playing to the galleries, and in particular to the donor community whose lack of appreciation of local dynamics made them impose a commission whose concept and design doomed it to fail from the beginning," he said.

They said Parliament had only denied KACC proposals that would have made it a monster and stopped it from applying the laws retrogressively.

The Constitution does not allow an Act of Parliament to be applied to a crime committed earlier than the creation of the law.

Syong'oh said it was not true that those who committed economic crimes before 2003 were off the hook.

"The Penal Code should be used to deal with those who stole before the creation of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act 2003," he said.

They said investigations into the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scam have been completed but Ringera had not acted on any.

Marende said the committee was composed of 12 professionals and majority were lawyers.

"We feel insulted and demeaned by the claims that the chairman had influenced us," he said.

Elsewhere, ODM has said the rejection of the amendments would not affect its resolve to fight corruption.

"The amendment would not alter our resolve to deal with corruption when we form the Government next year," said party Secretary General, Prof Anyang' Nyong'o.

And as outrage on the proposed law that intends to weaken KACC flowed, the Government failed to commit whether the President would assent to the Bill.

Government's spokesman, Dr Alfred Mutua, called a press conference to comment on the issue but did not say whether the President would veto the controversial Statue Law (Miscellaneous amendments) Bill, 2007.

Said Mutua: "I can not comment on whether the President will assent to the Bill. He has not even received it."

He instead bashed the Opposition for trying to water down the powers of the anti-graft agency.

The law proposed amendments to more than 34 legislations, but has elicited a storm with the passing of amendments to the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act 2003.

Passed by Parliament on Wednesday, the amendments leave KACC with no authority to investigate economic crimes committed prior to 2003. The agency is also barred from summoning suspects.

The Bill passed the committee stage in Parliament and the President now holds the final say.

Mutua said the Government is not amused by Parliament's decision.

"The move is very unfortunate and a big blow to President Kibaki's fight against graft," said the Government spokesman.

While accusing the Opposition, Mutua noted: The sustained campaign by the Opposition to water down the powers of KACC indicates that some of them fear being held accountable for many acts of corruption being investigated."